Hello faithful friends and blog followers!
I write to you from the JFK airport in NYC! We drove up from 'Launch' in Washington DC early this morning…and my flight leaving the USA for the next 11 months departs in less than an hour!
Our World Race route was changed (which we are learning we should get very used to) — so now we are starting off in Central America — not Eastern Europe, as originally planned. Turns out flights to Europe during the Olympics are pretty hard to schedule…. so HOLA Central America! We fly to Costa Rica (pura vida!), then bus through Nicaragua to finally arrive in Honduras: where we will spend Month #1 of our 11 month adventure!
'Launch' was great — it was kind of like a mini training camp. We had time with our Teams and sessions on topics like World Race Culture, the Presence of the Holy Spirit, Positive Attitude and other important stuff like that…which is what I want to share with you about!
We talked about how there is always something coming off of you- and other people feel it, so you may as well be intentional and have what's coming off you be GOOD!
We were reminded that God's plans don't always make sense to us. They don't have to and we shouldn't expect them to (easier said than done). When you are in the presence of God you will do things that don't make sense to others (Like going on an 11 month backpacking mission trip -? hah) and that we don't always need to see the end result. We won't get a 'guarantee' in writing that things are going to work out the way we want them to, but what we do have it God's guarantee that if we listen to His voice and follow it, we will be blessed –and God's guarantee is the best kind.
We learned there's nothing you can do to make God love us more or love us less. He loves us 100% no matter what, because that's just how He is. His love for us never changes. What does change is our ability to receive His love. He invites us– He dares us to open our hearts to Him. When we do, we'll feel more love from Him than we've ever felt before or even imagined possible. We are His beloved children and it's our job to be loved outrageuosly by Him. And then to LIVE like people who are outrageously loved!
Whatever we imagine God and His love are capable of, He can do SO much more and He's inviting us to be a part of that; He has invited us to partner with Him in doing His work. And I don't know about you but, living outrageously loved and partnering with God Almighty sounds like a pretty good deal! But it's also a humbling thought because I have to realize that the world doesn't need me. The people out there in the nations that I am leaving to go help and love on over the course of the next 11 months -they don't need me. They need God's love & His presence — and He wants to use me to bring them that.
So with all that in mind, I bid you Adios for now!
Although I am certain that pretty soon I won't even know exactly where I am geographically… I know I am EXACTLY where I am supposed to be. And it's a good feeling 😉
Wheels Up!
